Here's why new fronts seem to be opening up across the Middle East
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Houthi rebels in Yemen said they attacked Saudi oil facilities. The Saudis blamed militias in Iraq and joined the United States in bombing them. Iran fired missiles at Jordan. Dr. . .
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Houthi rebels in Yemen said they attacked Saudi oil facilities. The Saudis blamed militias in Iraq and joined the United Statesin bombing them. Iran fired missiles at Jordan. Drones set ships ablaze in Egypt. But it's not actually as complicated as it sounds, and it's all related tothe broader warbetween the United States and Iran, currently focused on theStrait of Hormuz. Iran supportsarmed groups across the Middle Eastthat allow it to project power far beyond its borders. The U. S. has thousands of troopsbased in allied Arab countriesthat have been targets of Iran's retaliation. Here's a look at why so many fronts seem to be heating up at once. A struggle over the straitThe epicenter of the latest violence is the Strait of Hormuz, an elbow-shaped passage running between Iran and Oman that carried a fifth of the world's traded oil and gas before the war. Iran says it controls the waterway and has attacked ships attempting to use an alternative route overseen by the U. S. military along the coast of Oman. The U. S. has struck Iran in response, saying the strait should be open to all international traffic, as it was before the U. S. and Israelattacked Iran on Feb. 28. When the U. S. strikes Iran, Iran retaliates by firing missiles and drones against Arab countries hosting U. S. forces, like Jordan and Kuwait. The exchanges of fire in recent weeksled to the collapseof an interim agreement aimed at winding down the war. That has deepened mistrust on both sides. At this point, Iran appears to be more interested in cementing its control over the strait than in making a deal with the U. S. to lift international sanctions. Yemen's Houthis are wading inThe Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, who stayed on the sidelines during the initial phase of the war, have declared a blockade on Saudi Arabia, threatening shipping throughanother major trade routeleading through the Bab el-Mandeb strait and the Red Sea up to Egypt's Suez Canal. The Houthis also claim to have attacked Saudi oil infrastructure near an East-West pipeline that the kingdom has used to ship millions of barrels of oil since the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed. The Houthi-Saudi tensions are rooted ina separate but related conflictgoing back more than a decade that seems to be reigniting. But it also presents a new front on which Iran could pressure a key U. S. ally and potentially choke off more of the world's energy supplies, with effects far beyond the region. Ambrey, a maritime security firm, has recorded over 10 transits that U-turned in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden since the Houthi naval blockade against Saudi Arabia was announced. Bab al-Mandeb transits have been down 30% since July 21 compared to June, according to the latest Ambrey data. The Saudis take aim at Iran-backed groups in IraqEarlier this week, Saudi Arabia accused Iran-backed militias in Iraq of launching drone attacks on its oil facilities for two straight days. In response, U. S. and Saudi fighter aircraft bombed militia sites in Iraq, killing at least 20 fighters and six Iranian advisers. Iraq has close ties to both the U. S. and Iran andhas long struggled to balance them. Since the start of the war, it has been in a literal crossfire. The government condemned the U. S. -Saudi strikes, saying they came as it was trying to investigate what had happened. The Popular Mobilization Forces, a collection of armed groups close to Iran, are officially part of Iraq's security forces but often act autonomously, including by attacking U. S. forces stationed in Iraq. American forces are due tofinish their withdrawalfrom the country at the end of September, and the Iraqi government has vowed to disarm nonstate actors or incorporate them into the military. But those efforts could stall as the wider war rages. The remaining U. S. forces are based in Iraq's semiautonomous Kurdish region, which is also home to armed Iranian Kurdish dissident groups. Iran has attacked both over the course of the war. Drone attack on Egypt signals a possible widening of the warOn Wednesday, a drone attack on Egypt's Mediterranean port of Damietta set two natural gas vessels ablaze, including a U. S. -owned floating storage facility. No one has claimed the attack, and the Houthis have denied responsibility. Egypt, a close U. S. ally and regional mediator, is one of the only countries in the Middle East to have avoided military involvement in the war. Israel is on the sidelines, for nowIsrael, which took part in the initial weekslong bombardment of Iran and was repeatedly targeted by Iranian missiles earlier in the conflict, has remained on the sidelines since the interim peace deal. The Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group fired rockets into northern Israel shortly after the outbreak of the war. Israel responded with aerial bombardment and a ground invasion. It has sinceoccupied, depopulated and destroyedlarge parts of southern Lebanon, saying such measures are necessary to root out militants. A June 20 truce has largely held. Israel and Lebanon's government are currently implementing the initial stages of an agreement in which Israeli forces would withdraw and Lebanon's army would move in. The deal also states that Hezbollah must be disarmed. The group has rejected the deal and could violently resist any attempt to forcibly disarm it. Any attack by Iran, Hezbollah or Israel could reignite those hostilities, reopening yet another front. ___Krauss reported from Ottawa, Ontario. Suzan Fraser And Joseph Krauss, The Associated PressA child rests his head on the coffin of a Popular Mobilization Forces fighter draped in the Iraqi flag during a funeral for Popular Mobilization Forces fighters killed in airstrikes on PMF bases in Najaf, Iraq, Thursday, July 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil) - The Associated PressMourners carry a coffin draped with a cloth bearing the emblem of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces during a funeral for Popular Mobilization Forces fighters killed in airstrikes on PMF bases in Najaf, Iraq, Thursday, July 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) - The Associated PressMourners carry the coffin of an Iranian adviser draped in the Iranian flag during a group funeral for Iranian advisers and Popular Mobilization Forces fighters killed in airstrikes on bases belonging to Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of predominantly Shiite militias that includes Iran-backed groups, in Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday, July 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban) - The Associated Press